The invention relates generally to the field of recording images, and more particularly to stereo panoramic camera arrangements for recording of panoramic images useful in a stereo panoramic image pair. In addition, the invention relates to camera arrangements for recording individual panoramic images, which may be used in the stereo panoramic camera arrangements.
Panoramic images are images of a scene having a wide field of view, up to a full 360xc2x0. Panoramic images may be recorded using a wide angled lens, a mirror, or the like, providing a wide field of view. Panoramic images having a wider field of view can be generated by, for example, recording a plurality of images around a particular point and, using conventional mosaicing techniques, generating a single mosaic image. Panoramic images may also be generated of simulated scenes using conventional computer graphics techniques. Stereoscopic panoramic images can also be generated from images using various techniques known to those skilled in the art. In one technique, described in Joshua Gluckman, et al., xe2x80x9cReal-Time Omnidirectional And Panoramic Stereo,xe2x80x9d DARPA Image Understanding Workshop, 1998, two omnidirectional cameras, vertically displaced along a common axis, record panoramic images of the surrounding scene. Since the cameras are displaced, the pair of images recorded by the cameras, when considered in combination, will provide depth information for objects in the scene surrounding the cameras. However, since the displacement is vertical, the recorded images are inappropriate for human stereo panoramic perception.
The invention in one aspect provides new and improved stereo panoramic camera arrangements for recording of panoramic images useful in a stereo panoramic image pair. In addition, the invention provides new and improved camera arrangements for recording individual panoramic images, which may be used in the stereo panoramic camera arrangements.
In brief summary, the invention, in one aspect, provides a camera arrangement comprising a camera and an optical element. The camera is configured to record an image defined by light rays directed thereto. The optical element is configured to deflect rays from a scene to the camera for recording thereby. The optical element is further configured to deflect the rays such that, if the rays were undeflected, the rays would instead be tangent to a viewing device of predetermined shape, such as a circle.
Optical elements may be in the form of curved mirrors or lenses.
The camera arrangements are configured to record images in the form of left or right panoramic images of a stereo panoramic image pair, and in another aspect, the invention provides a stereo panoramic camera arrangement including one or more camera arrangements, for contemporaneously recording both left or right panoramic images of a stereo panoramic image pair.